Liverpool suffered a second-half collapse against Sevilla on Tuesday night.
Jurgen Klopp’s side cruised through the first-half of their Champions League tie in Spain, racing into a 3-0 lead after two goals from Roberto Firmino and another from Sadio Mane. Liverpool appeared on course to secure an impressive away victory and looked set to confirm their place in the knockout stages, but suffered an incredible collapse after half-time.
Wissam Ben Yedder scored twice for Sevilla before Guido Pizarro’s goal secured a point in the final minute of stoppage time. The Sevilla players ran to celebrate with their manager Eduardo Berizzo upon scoring the equaliser. The 48-year-old Argentine had reportedly told his players at half-time that he has been diagnosed with prostate cancer.
Following the match, Klopp said Liverpool lost their three-goal lead because they “didn’t play football” in the second-half.
“We became passive, they scored the first, then it was obvious the atmosphere changed immediately,” Klopp told reporters.
“That gave them a big boost. Until the second goal we were reactive. After the second goal it was an open game again but we couldn’t score off the counterattacks. We opened the door for them, didn’t close it, so they could score in the last minute. That’s the story of the game.”
As Klopp alluded to, Liverpool’s collapse was a collective failure, but one player had a prominent role in the surrender of their lead – Alberto Moreno.
The Spanish full-back gave away the free-kick that resulted in Sevilla’s first goal, and was beaten to a header from the free-kick. He then conceded a penalty against his former team when he committed a foul after failing to control a pass from Philippe Coutinho.
On Irish TV channel TV3, Graeme Souness offered some strong criticism of Moreno. The former Liverpool midfielder and manager said that Moreno is “an accident waiting to happen” and questioned whether he understood how to play as a full-back.
“We highlighted him before a ball was kicked,” Souness said.
“It is as if he doesn’t understand the position. That is an incident where he comes into the middle of the pitch unnecessarily. Here is where he gives a free kick away unnecessarily. It was just clumsy. He never looks over his shoulder to see where the danger was coming. He frustrates the life out of me. I think he is an accident waiting to happen.”
You can watch Souness here:
Moreno got the Souness treatment post match😳#TV3UCL #SEVLIV pic.twitter.com/b3Ux2oqjuA
— Virgin Media Sport (@VMSportIE) November 21, 2017
